1. Field of the Present Invention
The present invention relates generally to systems, methods and software for capturing metrics associated with information technology, and, in particular, to facilitating analysis of information technology resources consumed to derive operation and architecture recommendations.
2. Background
Information Technology (“IT”), which as used herein generally refers to the computer equipment, systems, processes and other infrastructure that support all business activities within a company or other organization, has become increasingly important to each such company. Nearly always, each company's IT must perform numerous specific business processing functions, sometimes referred to herein as business applications, in which particular business problems are solved. The IT elements necessary to fulfill a particular business processing requirement are sometimes collectively referred to hereinafter as a business application and include both physical (e.g., computer hardware and other equipment) and non-physical elements. The non-physical elements include programs, which include the computer code (including both coding and configuration parameters) deployed on IT equipment to solve the applicable business problems.
Computer programs are complex algorithms applied to business problems. They can be purely mathematical, such as wave form analysis. Or, they may be finance management, such as home banking. All of these are developed and deployed with specification and testing before being put into production. There have been many documents that prescribe how to invent and create the necessary algorithms and processes, but all have left it to the technologists to evaluate the problem space and independently work through the selection process for technologies that are relevant for the computer algorithms that will be employed. Historically, program designers and developers have had to use generalized guidance, and create and deploy the application based on personal experience and insight. This process lacks rigor and does not prove “completeness” in the design, providing the opening for erroneous implementation and defective delivery. Furthermore, it also lacks definitive linkage to a comprehensive set of business requirements that include operational requirements. Often these requirements are discovered after that application is deployed, causing delays, errors and, loss of money and reputation.
Integrating all of the physical and non-physical elements of a given business application creates many further complexities, from the design and development of the various elements through deployment and maintenance of the complete business application. Unfortunately, aside from limited individualized guidance for particular elements, as described above, it has traditionally been difficult to find cohesive, methodical, or customized assistance in implementing the various tasks associated with a business application life cycle.
Some assistance in conceptualizing the relationship between IT and business needs was provided by work done by Michael Porter in 1985. He introduced the concept of a Business Value Chain (BVC), which is a generic value chain model that comprises a sequence of activities found to be common to a wide range of firms. Porter identified key activities, including policies and decisions, interrelationships, integration and scale that strongly apply to the general function(s) required of IT. However, a need remained for a systematic approach, dedicated tools and platforms, and the like to assist in the actual design and management of IT. Without these things a recurring cycle of typical problems hamper day to day operations including: significantly oversized IT configurations (under utilization causes waste in both the investment and the environment, through excess energy and space consumption); unidentified constraints, which significantly limit the constraints that the business application must run with and limit most growth or change factors; the inability to identify the root cause of an operational incident; a failure to identify configuration changes to redeploy resource to other programs; and many others.
The credit crisis and a struggling economic climate have radically altered every industry, resulting in tightening of corporate budgets and generating a renewed interest in operational efficiency. Other key factors that have increased this interest include increasing globalization, which creates both opportunities and threats to any size business, and an increasing level of regulatory pressures. All of these factors have increased the need for businesses to carefully consider what strategic investments should be made and have forced businesses to be more adaptive to their changing surroundings in order to compete successfully.
The organizational element of the business that has functional responsibility for IT operations (“IT Operations”) is responsible for the delivery of the services necessary to fulfill the business application. Currently, the available tools are strongly focused on capacity and availability measurements for individual pieces of equipment which produce data. Unfortunately, these tools are not effective in using that data to create knowledge which enables the practitioner to identify opportunities for change and to make informed decisions about how to effectively change and otherwise manage their IT infrastructure. A need exists for more effective systems, methods and tools for achieving these and other functions.